Violet Barungi

"There is no doubt that Uganda, once declared part of the East African “literary desert” by Taban lo Liyong in his The Last Word (1969), is now a budding literary field once again.
And let the truth be told: it is a new breed of women writers who are in the vanguard of this literary renaissance." - Aaron Mushengyezi

Extracts

Children's Publications

Our Cousins From Abroad

Our Cousins From Abroad is the true story of how Kantu, Kale and Kaana, living in rural Uganda, meet their cousins, Adam and Mercy from England. The story highlights the importance of teaching children how to respect one another's different background, upbringing, culture and race..

The Promise

Read Me Series are stories for children written and designed to encourage children and to substitute the lost fireside experiences of the past. They are intended to bridge the gap between the present and the past generations, and to provide a glimpse of Uganda's orature..

All the publications mentioned on this website are available at FEMRITE and all major bookstores in Kampala. Cassandra is stocked by ABC (African Book Collective) in London.

Cassandra

Violet Barungi’s novel Cassandra, is not just one other addition to the Ugandan literature milieu. Published in 1999, Cassandra is probably the undisputed masterpiece of our time. Barungi emerges as a skilled storyteller who exhibits impeccable mastery of language and style, which she employs to good advantage. It is little wonder that her play, Over My Dead Body, won the British Council International New Playwriting Award for Africa and the Middle East in 1997.

Cassandra is the story of an independent-minded, self confident and ambitious girl, who is determined to reach the top without using men's coat tails to do so. She believes women have more going for them than the subservient role designed for them by society. But what happens when she is waylaid by love, with all its power to subdue and overwhelm is a lesson in self-discovery.

Cassandra is a woman made of metal, a radical feminist, but she possesses a heart of flesh. Driven by the disordering power of passion, which Plato saw as the worst danger to the stability of an ideal state, she is torn apart by her love relationships with two egoistic and jealous brothers..

About Violet Barungi

Violet Barungi was born in Mbarara district, Western Uganda. She was educated at Bweranyangi Girls’ School, Gayaza High School and Makerere University, Kampala, where she graduated with an honours degree in History. She is married and has six children..

Cassandra

A week later, Mellinda broached the subject again. Cassandra had duly presented herself to the recommended doctor who had examined her and confirmed her condition.

“The results are positive, Cassandra, ten weeks at a guess.” “I see,” Cassandra replied expressionlessly. “I never had any doubts really.”

“I understand you’re not married?” the doctor went on cautiously. Of course he already knew all that, having been fully briefed by his colleague but he was groping for an opening. He had never in his life met a girl who made him feel so ill at ease and superfluous.

In contrast to her sister’s effervescent nature, this one was cool almost to the point of rudeness.

The Shadow & the Substance

I remained on the log thinking about my childhood and growing up days, and wondering whether I’d been happy then. But then, what’s happiness? Is it something one can actually define, a particular moment in one’s life one can pinpoint and say I was happy then or I’m happy now? Somebody somewhere said that happiness is something remembered but rarely experienced, is that the reason why we usually think of the past with nostalgia? Happiness, are you real or an illusion?